Services

Rail passengers warned ahead of week of disruption

RAIL passengers travelling in or out of Liverpool via St Helens’ stations in July are facing major disruption from this Saturday.

Network Rail will be upgrading the railway between Edge Hill and Bryn, via St Helens Central, and between Edge Hill and St Helens Junction, from Saturday, July 5 to Sunday, July 13.

It is part of the £1bn Northern Hub and North West electrification programme.

According to Network Rail, much of the work is taking place in Huyton and Roby to remove a bottleneck which causes disruption and delays.

A new third track will be completed to allow faster trains to pass slower services and additional platforms will be built.

In a statement Network Rail said that significant work involved in building new track and platform mean it is necessary to temporarily close the line.

“Alternative routes will be available and buses will replace the usual timetable.”

Ian Joslin, area director for Network Rail, stressed that the works will ultimately “deliver faster journey times, more seats and capacity and more reliable journeys”.

He said: “The work has been carefully planned so the closure is for the shortest amount of time possible.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused but I am confident the short term-pain will be worth the long-term gain.”

Meanwhile, Alex Hynes, managing director for Northern Rail, which runs trains from St Helens between Manchester and Liverpool, said: “Not only will it provide more capacity but it will also improve journey times for our customers.

“It heralds the beginning of the final phase of electrification work between Liverpool and Manchester, which will see our additional electric trains operating from December 2014 and is something to really celebrate.”

Network Rail says passengers are already seeing the benefits of investment in the railway in the region.

In May a new direct service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool was introduced which takes just 33 minutes between the two cities, a 10 minute journey time reduction overall.

Further works will take place on the railway to complete the final phase of electrification of the route before electric trains begin to operate from December 2014.

For the latest information regarding the closure and to plan journeys, passengers should check before they travel at www.nationalrail.co.uk/huyton.

Comments

lawman2004
1:48pm Tue 1 Jul 14

In May a new direct service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool was introduced which takes just 33 minutes between the two cities, a 10 minute journey time reduction overall.
Ten whole minutes... Well woopie dooo. I would have been more impressed if they had managed to increase the frequency having spent the millions they have on electricfication.

In May a new direct service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool was introduced which takes just 33 minutes between the two cities, a 10 minute journey time reduction overall.
Ten whole minutes... Well woopie dooo. I would have been more impressed if they had managed to increase the frequency having spent the millions they have on electricfication.lawman2004

In May a new direct service from Manchester Victoria to Liverpool was introduced which takes just 33 minutes between the two cities, a 10 minute journey time reduction overall.
Ten whole minutes... Well woopie dooo. I would have been more impressed if they had managed to increase the frequency having spent the millions they have on electricfication.

Score: -4

Bill Bradbury
3:02pm Tue 1 Jul 14

33 minutes is good and better than road travel which is a nightmare and a fortune to park
I can't get your point, are you a slow man or perhaps can suggest what is the optimum speed/time between the two cities?
My only moan about this electrification on which all our MP's are silent is we are getting SE "cast-offs" all uprated electrically to work on this updated electrical system and to be made disabled friendly. The SE will get brand-new trains and I read our 30 year old diesel "pacers" (Buses on bogeys) will still be running so that the Continental finance company that owns them on behalf of Northern Rail and Merseytravel get the last penny out of them. The South is also nicking some of our better Trans Penine stock. Again our MP's are silent on this.
Still at least the NW is getting some money spent on it. Not before time!

33 minutes is good and better than road travel which is a nightmare and a fortune to park
I can't get your point, are you a slow man or perhaps can suggest what is the optimum speed/time between the two cities?
My only moan about this electrification on which all our MP's are silent is we are getting SE "cast-offs" all uprated electrically to work on this updated electrical system and to be made disabled friendly. The SE will get brand-new trains and I read our 30 year old diesel "pacers" (Buses on bogeys) will still be running so that the Continental finance company that owns them on behalf of Northern Rail and Merseytravel get the last penny out of them. The South is also nicking some of our better Trans Penine stock. Again our MP's are silent on this.
Still at least the NW is getting some money spent on it. Not before time!Bill Bradbury

33 minutes is good and better than road travel which is a nightmare and a fortune to park
I can't get your point, are you a slow man or perhaps can suggest what is the optimum speed/time between the two cities?
My only moan about this electrification on which all our MP's are silent is we are getting SE "cast-offs" all uprated electrically to work on this updated electrical system and to be made disabled friendly. The SE will get brand-new trains and I read our 30 year old diesel "pacers" (Buses on bogeys) will still be running so that the Continental finance company that owns them on behalf of Northern Rail and Merseytravel get the last penny out of them. The South is also nicking some of our better Trans Penine stock. Again our MP's are silent on this.
Still at least the NW is getting some money spent on it. Not before time!

Score: 6

StHelens lad
8:18am Thu 3 Jul 14

All very nice hmmm only seven 30 year old units available to run the service? Why do we never hear that part? We hear about millions spent on electrification but nothing about the fact there are very few trains to run....

All very nice hmmm only seven 30 year old units available to run the service? Why do we never hear that part? We hear about millions spent on electrification but nothing about the fact there are very few trains to run....StHelens lad

All very nice hmmm only seven 30 year old units available to run the service? Why do we never hear that part? We hear about millions spent on electrification but nothing about the fact there are very few trains to run....

Score: 3

frankly
9:28am Sat 5 Jul 14

RIGHT,,My views are.. from another areas cast offs, not bothered if they do the job.. I do a lot of trecking on the railways in this area and find the same problem.. Take the St Helens/Liverpool line for instance.. Time after time, it arrives at Prescott full and people then have to stand for the journey, so wheres the extra seats we were promised a couple of years back ???.. Very rare , when I use the underground Wirral line, or Northern line to Southport do I find anyone standing, plenty of seats. So more seating would be my main plea, not 10 mins knocked of a journey

RIGHT,,My views are.. from another areas cast offs, not bothered if they do the job.. I do a lot of trecking on the railways in this area and find the same problem.. Take the St Helens/Liverpool line for instance.. Time after time, it arrives at Prescott full and people then have to stand for the journey, so wheres the extra seats we were promised a couple of years back ???.. Very rare , when I use the underground Wirral line, or Northern line to Southport do I find anyone standing, plenty of seats. So more seating would be my main plea, not 10 mins knocked of a journeyfrankly

RIGHT,,My views are.. from another areas cast offs, not bothered if they do the job.. I do a lot of trecking on the railways in this area and find the same problem.. Take the St Helens/Liverpool line for instance.. Time after time, it arrives at Prescott full and people then have to stand for the journey, so wheres the extra seats we were promised a couple of years back ???.. Very rare , when I use the underground Wirral line, or Northern line to Southport do I find anyone standing, plenty of seats. So more seating would be my main plea, not 10 mins knocked of a journey

Score: 5

frankly
9:33am Sat 5 Jul 14

ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUN

ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUNfrankly

ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUN

Score: 4

AiJay1
10:34am Mon 7 Jul 14

Train travel us expensive and I wonder what this will do to price fares in the future when companies up here start letting electric trains. 10 minute reduction isn't much but beats nothing. Also this isn't doing anything to people getting on at other station like st helens junction.

Like others have stated all the money and rolling stock is being poured into the south east as usual whilst we get the little left over crap. I'd rather they spent the money upgrading capacity which would be better off. Add a third line where needed, increase platform sizes and add extra carriages when it starts to get busy.

Train travel us expensive and I wonder what this will do to price fares in the future when companies up here start letting electric trains. 10 minute reduction isn't much but beats nothing. Also this isn't doing anything to people getting on at other station like st helens junction.
Like others have stated all the money and rolling stock is being poured into the south east as usual whilst we get the little left over crap. I'd rather they spent the money upgrading capacity which would be better off. Add a third line where needed, increase platform sizes and add extra carriages when it starts to get busy.AiJay1

Train travel us expensive and I wonder what this will do to price fares in the future when companies up here start letting electric trains. 10 minute reduction isn't much but beats nothing. Also this isn't doing anything to people getting on at other station like st helens junction.

Like others have stated all the money and rolling stock is being poured into the south east as usual whilst we get the little left over crap. I'd rather they spent the money upgrading capacity which would be better off. Add a third line where needed, increase platform sizes and add extra carriages when it starts to get busy.

Score: 1

Bill Bradbury
11:10am Mon 7 Jul 14

frankly wrote…

ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUN

Spot on as all trains leave the station on the dot. Time tables that actually deliver what they say. Perhaps we should ask a Mussolini to run our trains.

[quote][p][bold]frankly[/bold] wrote:
ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUN[/p][/quote]Spot on as all trains leave the station on the dot. Time tables that actually deliver what they say. Perhaps we should ask a Mussolini to run our trains.Bill Bradbury

frankly wrote…

ive spent 8 weeks in Switzerland... Now that's how a transport system SHOULD BE RUN

Spot on as all trains leave the station on the dot. Time tables that actually deliver what they say. Perhaps we should ask a Mussolini to run our trains.

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